File 6.0-6.4: Semantics (F) Flashcards
What can semantics be divided in?
- Lexical semantics
- Compositional semantics
lexical semantics
Lexical semantics deals with the meanings of words and other lexical expressions, including the meaning relationships among them.
compositional semantics
Compositional semantics is concerned with phrasal meanings and how phrasal meanings are assembled. The meaning of sentences and how they are assembled.
What are the two aspects of linguistic meaning?
- Sense
- Reference
How do we store word meanings?
a. Dictionary-Style Definitions
b. Mental Image Definitions
c. Usage-Based Definitions
Dictionary-Style Definitions
Word meanings store in our minds with words describing words.
Mental Image Definitions
Word meanings stored in our minds as a mental image. Think of the words Mona Lisa.
prototype
For any given set, a member that exhibits the typical qualities of the members of that set.
So, for a mental image based storage one image represents a word, but is often very specific and the word can mean more than one idea so the image isn’t always a good representation.
Usage-Based Definition
A characterization of a word’s sense based on the way that the word is used by speakers of a language.
In what way can words semantically be related?
- Hyponymy (sister terms)
- Synonymy
- Antonymy
hyponomy
A meaning relationship between words where the reference of some word X is included in the reference of some other word Y. X is then said to be a hyponym of Y, and conversely, Y is said to be a hypernym of X. (See also Sister Terms.)
For example, consider the words dog and poodle. The reference of dog is the set of all things that are dogs, while the reference of poodle is the set of all things that are poodles.
sister terms
Another word for hyponymy, when the reference is on the same level in the hierarchy.
synonymy
Two words are synonymous if they have exactly the same reference. (couch/sofa, etc.)
antonymy
Two words that are opposite of each other.
In order for two words to be antonyms of one another, they must have meanings that are related, yet these meanings must contrast with each other in some significant way.
In which ways can words be opposite of each other?
- Complementary
- Gradable pairs
- Reverses
- Converses
complementary antonyms
Two words X and Y are complementary antonyms if there is nothing in the world
that is a part of both X’s reference and Y’s reference. (married/unmarried)
gradable antonyms
Gradable antonyms typically represent points on a continuum, so while something can be one or the other but not both, it can also easily be between the two. (wet/dry, hot/cold)
reverses antonyms
Reverses are pairs of words that suggest some kind of movement, where one word in the pair suggests movement that “undoes” the movement suggested by the other. (put together/take apart, ascent/descent)
converses antonyms
Converses have to do with two opposing points of view or a change in perspective: for one member of the pair to have reference, the other must as well. (lend/borrow, send/receive)
proposition
The claim expressed by a sentence is called a proposition.
The sense expressed by a sentence. Characteristically, propositions can be true or false, i.e., have truth values.
truth value
The ability to be true or false is the ability to have a truth
value. (It doesn’t have to be true!)
truth conditions
The conditions that
would have to hold in the world in order for some proposition to be true are
called truth conditions.
What kind of propositional relationships are there?
- Entailment
(- Mutual entailment) - Incompatible
entailment
A relationship between
propositions where a proposition p is said to entail another proposition q just in case if p is true, q has to be true as well.
a. All dogs bark.
b. Sally’s dog barks.
mutual entailment
The relationship between two propositions where they entail one another.
a. Ian has a female sibling.
b. Ian has a sister.
incompatible for propositional relationship
This means that it would be
impossible for both of them to be true; that is, the truth conditions for one are
incompatible with the truth conditions for the other.
a. No dogs bark.
b. All dogs bark.
phrasal expressions
Sentences, words put together that form a meaning
principle of compositionality
the meaning of a sentence (or any other multi-word expression) is a function of the meanings of the words it contains and the way in which these words are syntactically combined.
The principle of compositionality simply states that the meanings of multi-word expressions are compositional, that is, predictable from the meanings of words and their syntactic combination.
compositional
predictable from the meanings of words and their syntactic combination.
idioms
A multi-word lexical expression whose meaning is not compositional.
What is a form of adjectival combinations?
Pure intersection
interactive adjectives
An adjective whose reference is determined independently from the reference of the noun that it modifies.
An important point about these cases of pure intersection is that the two sets can be identified independently.
relative intersections
Other adjectives do not necessarily combine with nouns according to this pattern; examples of a second kind of semantic combination can be found in the phrases big whale or good beer. In the case of big whale, the problem is that it is not possible to identify a set of big things in absolute terms. Size is always relative.
subsective adjectives
Here, the adjective big selects a subset of mice, a subset of whales, and likewise a subset for any other set that we might want to identify big elements of.
non-intersection
Logically, we can say that the use of intersection-type adjectives entails (or requires) reference to the objects denoted by the nouns, while the use of non-intersection adjectives does not.
an adjective that does not require reference to objects denoted by the noun.
anti-intersection adjectives
When this kind of adjective combines with a noun, the reference of the resulting expression cannot overlap with the noun’s reference. For example, a fake Picasso by definition cannot refer to a Picasso.
sense
some kind of mental representation of its meaning (the word cat might bring up images of your own cat, or allergies, four-legged, furry, related to panthers) (you can have two senses for China (spitting and Olympics), which can result in two separate expressions that are not related)
reference
the particular entities in the world to which some expression refers the relationship to the world/it’s reference, that Garfield is a cat and goldfish are not- Garfield and Fluffy are referents of the expression cat, but you cannot refer a unicorn. The reference of the expression woman is the set of all women in the world (everything that reflects on women).
